Jews in Hungary Discuss Representation on Government Rehabilitation Fund

Representatives of the Central Board of Hungarian Jewry and the Central Bureau of Orthodox Jewry held a conference here today to discuss the composition of the Jewish Rehabilitation Fund, which the government has decided to establish and two-thirds of whose trustes are to be named by the Jewish community.

It was agreed that the 24 positions open to the Jews would be divided between Budapest Jews and representatives of provincial communities. Lajos Stockler, president of the Jewish community council of Budapest and a representative of the central board, was named president of the Jewish trustees of the rehabilitation fund, while Dr. S. Kahan, a representative of the Orthodox group, was elected vice-president.

Delegates to the conference expressed anxiety at a report from Washington that the U.S. Government has decided to surrender to the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees the contents of a Hungarian “gold train” captured from the Nazis. They pointed out that the train contains jewels and other valuables taken from Hungarian Jews, which are required to rehabilitate the survivors or their heirs. Property, the owners of which cannot be located, can be used for a general fund to aid needy Jews in Hungary, they declared.

(The “gold train” was captured in Austria in the closing days of the war by American forces. It had been dispatched from Budapest by fleeing Nazi leaders who were retreating into Germany. Part of the train is in the French zone of Austria, and no announcement has been made concerning its disposition.)

A Hungarian delegation, headed by President Zoltan Tildy, will leave for London and New York in a few days to ask the Allies to return Hungarian gold and valuables seized by the Germans, the Budapest radio announced yesterday.